Well hello!

I wonder if I should even try and keep this blog up and running at all! Time sure does fly by. I love to read others blogs and yet absolutely hate to write on my own. There is just so much that I feel I am always learning and trying to squeeze into my days that I never find (or make) the time to reflect on it. Never been much of a writer anyway. I can see how when we have kids how much fun it would be to keep a blog to try and document, if you will, their life through milestones and pictures. And how fun it would be for family to read it regularly. But all I’ve got is me, my husband, our crazy dog, and a house (and two cars)… and nothing terribly exciting going on. We are always growing yet struggling and I find that I have too many other important tasks that I struggle to get to, and this one being just about the last one on my list.

A couple quick updates on life while I’m here…

John is about to start his second full year at Stout after doing AMAZING this past year! I am so proud of him!! :) He also just took the Praxis test yesterday and so far he found out he’s passed two sections already (math being one of them, praise the Lord!!). In a couple days he’ll start off the spring semester where he has to only be at Stout for two days out of the week, rather than three, since he’ll be taking on more online courses instead. He has probably another 3 years to go at Stout, or possibly 2 to 2 1/2 if he keeps working this hard!

I recently visited my best friend Amanda in Alabama whom I hadn’t seen in over 2 years since her wedding! We had such a great weekend together and I wish I could have stayed longer! I got to meet many of her good friends, some more of her family, and see where her family has lived for a long time, places she used to visit back when she lived in MN. I miss her a lot already and will need to start budgeting for another ticket to visit! Now I hope I don’t pick up a cold every time I visit her though, and that it’s actually WARMER down south when I go next time! :)

Speaking of budgeting and the like, another “update” (if that’s what you’d call it even) is that John and I have been trying real hard these past couple weeks and months to get a hold on our finances. I’m sure we’re all always trying to do this, but we’ve been reading books like the Total Money Makeover and setting up a better and (dare I say it?) stricter budget for ourselves. We have goals of getting completely out of debt (including our mortgage, eek!) as soon as possible; like for example, paying off our credit cards by the end of 2011, and then our student loans and car loans by 2013. In order to do this I’ve also taken on a little side business, if that’s even what you’d call it, where I make some commission off of enrolling customers for Melaleuca. I’ve really enjoyed their products and have already made a couple hundred dollars without much work at all. So far so good!

And can I just say how much I hate (and love…) cars?? Moving on…

Otherwise John and I have really been trying to focus on building and sustaining a Christ-reflecting and God-honoring marriage… especially working on becoming more saturated in God’s Word. We have so much to read and to learn, but to always be setting our minds on things that are above, not things that are on earth. One of the reasons we are so focused lately on money is actually so we can free ourselves up to give more. Our poor decisions in the past now are preventing us from experiencing the joy of giving much to others. Of course we will still struggle to say no to things, but we’re working on it and praying for God’s wisdom through it all.

I suppose that’s about it guys… I’m here at work, taking a break from charting, but should get back to it now!

An Early V-Day

This was awhile ago now, but who cares!

My wonderful and thoughtful husband treated us to a surprise night out at a hotel in Minneapolis (see here) the week before Valentine’s Day. Thank you, priceline.com, for helping us get such a good deal! It was a great time to get away for a bit and enjoy not thinking about work or cleaning and daily life. The funny part though? We get up to our room and see that we got two double beds! Whoops.

Since this place was on Nicollet Mall, we could just walk a couple blocks to some well-known fancy shmancy restaurants.  We decided to go here, and boy was it yummy! We both ordered the corn tacos and really enjoyed them. The way they presented the food was really beautiful too; the plates were so pretty and cute!

Even though we tend to go “out” to eat pretty often these days, we haven’t been to a nice restaurant in a long time, or ever even.  So I’m hoping my husband and I can do these little date nights out more often. It was great!

History buff-to-be?

Lately I’ve been blessed with some extra time on my hands now that the semester is over. It’s always a difficult time when I’m not busy though because of all the temptations to waste time and fill it with needless entertainment. But today I picked up one of my $5 summer deal books from Desiringgod.org, A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards and I can’t put it down! It’s so interesting and rich with lessons from early Reformed Christians of the 18th century. I used to hate, let me emphasize the word hate, reading history, but I feel I am actually gaining something very valuable from this book. The chapter about Jonathan’s wife, Sarah, was especially good…. she was an amazing wife and mother (11 children…). Maybe this will lead me into reading more historical Christian biographies. Any suggestions? 

Yay!

Well since I’ve been home alone all day, I’ve been on wordpress quite a bit and just need to report to the world how excited I am that my husband gets to come home early today! He called me from work and then while talking, he heard that the Y is closing early due to the snow storm today. I’m pumped because I hardly get to spend time with him past 10am it seems. He’ll come home from work between 8pm and 10:30pm on most days, and by then he’s usually completely pooped and I’m usually finishing up studying… So, not that you all had to know about this, but I am very happy. :) The snow is pretty, but I was stuck at home for the day and can’t wait for my husband to come home. :) Well, I’m off to spend some time in prayer for him.. I don’t promise that my posts will be anything worth reading, but I hope you do enjoy them!

Married!

Yep, John and I are now married!! Wooooo! It’s amazing! We have a lot of sorting and settling in to do though, and changing my name is not fun (so many phone calls, so many errands)… so speaking of that, I gotta get back to the apartment to get things put away. Love you all!! :)

Being engaged is so…. confusing. We’re supposed to be preparing for marriage, yet we really can’t know or think too much about being married because we’re not. Or something. Ugh, it’s just very frustrating. I wish there were more good Christian books out there that dealt with the stage of engagement. It seems that most are about dating/courting or else marriage. At least engagement isn’t too long, for us it’s about 9 months, but lately I wished it was much less time. Then again, there is a ton to do to plan our wedding and also John and I need this time to prayerfully prepare for joining together in the Covenant of marriage. It’s no light thing! What’s interesting is that people are so excited and happy for me and John getting married, but some of those excited people are also people who say they will never marry and don’t see the point in getting married. So why are they so excited for me? I suppose it’s just because they know that I’m happy and will, Lord willing, have a joyful and enjoyable life with John by my side. It breaks my heart how the world is so infused with horrible lies about marriage, but that’s because to the world, the gospel is folly, and since marriage parallels with Christ and the church (which the world doesn’t understand), it’s no wonder marriage is not understood either. Satan is so clever, but man am I glad that he is a LOSER! I really need to pray more for the world, for those close to me who are so far from God and living a frustrating life of lies (trust me, I can see how frustrated and confused they are with how they live and deal with life’s problems). I really really look forward to when John is my closest neighbor, the closest person to me in life, because he inspires me, encourages me, supports me, rebukes me, loves me, and always points me to Christ, which is the very thing I need. Being in a home that doesn’t welcome a radical Christ exulting faith, that doesn’t even think about our Lord, the maker of all things, the very Being that has brought us life, can be so draining and discouraging…This is such a rambling post, but oh well, that’s how I normally process my thoughts – I ramble.